Assessing the Fear of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Patients with Undergoing Gastrointestinal Endoscopy: Online Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Objective: This study was carried out to determine level of COVID-19 pandemic fear and the contributing factors in patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy. 
 Material and Method: This study was conducted online using a descriptive and cross-sectional approach. A Personal Information Form and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale were employed as measurement instruments. One day prior to the scheduled endoscopic surgery, the data collecting form was prepared on Google Forms and distributed to the patients over WhatsApp.
 Results: The study consisted of 155 patients. The mean age of the patients was 42.9 ± 15.2, and 55.4% of them were female. Also, 55.4% of the patients were very afraid of COVID-19, 91.6% were afraid of transmitting COVID-19 to their relatives, 34.8% of the patients thought they were in the group at risk for COVID-19, and 35.5% of them reported they gave up going to the hospital for endoscopy procedure at least once due to fear of COVID-19 despite having symptoms that require endoscopy. 
 Conclusions: Patients gave up presenting to the hospital due to fear of COVID-19. One of the most important results of this study is that the fear of getting COVID-19 from the hospital leads to giving up medical treatment and care procedures. All of these may cause delays in the early diagnosis and effective treatment of diseases. We recommend that fear of COVID-19 should be evaluated and that fear-related preventive and therapeutic applications should be implemented.